Provides depth and customization not currently found on equipment in 5e. That's great if you're looking for such rules, but it's not written with the 5e simplicity ethos in mind. Overall if one player at the table wants to use these rules and others dont, they'll eventually feel inferior for not using them due to how things are balanced mechanically.

As someone who has already released a number of racial supplements, many of which are in this book, this is a solid supplement. The author's takes are unique, while remaining true to existing lore. The layout and formatting are both top notch and to release it for free (PWYW) is icing on the cake.

I'll try to keep my thoughts concise and explain how I feel about each chapter of content:

Chapter 1: I dislike everything about the half races presented here. It's a personal opinion, but a half elf-half dragonborn unleashes a huge number of questions imo.

Chapter 2: New races are always an interesting point. I've created a large number in my "Backgrounds Of" series, so I have a good feeling for how a race is balanced. What you'll find here is a variety of 3rd edition and older content, updated to 5e. Almost too literally for my taste, but they DO seem balanced.

Chapter 3: A huge number of archetypes. I'll comment on all the archetypes based on class. I'm going to comment on these below, so if you're interested scroll down to check those out.

Chapter 4: Ah yes, "full classes". I hate full classes in 99% of cases, as most of the time they're a great concept that works better as an archetype. The archetype design is limited, and that let's us focus on being good. Having to "fill out" a class is a chore and (in my opinion) rarely leads to a good product. Here we have an Artificer (which, to me, should be a wizard archetype), the Death Knight (which to me works as a fighter or paladin archetype), Magus (collective caster, perhaps wizard or sorcerer would enjoy this as an archetype) and finally the Oracle (wizard or warlock).

Chapter 5: Backgrounds are GREAT. And most of what we have here works really well. I disagree with granting weapon proficiencies in a background as a rule, but I don't think this is going to break anything. There's a lot of wording in here that doesn't match up to how WOTC words things, and I think that this chapter would seriously benefit from that sort of verbal clarity.

Chapter 6: Feats! That optional system of customization WOTC seems to forget exists, the feats presented here range in balance and that's bad. Arcane Armor basically grants a wizard a huge AC for the cost of an ability score increase (it sets your AC to 10 + dex + spellcasting ability modifier). That's a bad feat. Conserve Momentum is badly designed, but would be a lot of fun (if you miss and you're using a 'heavy' weapon, you can keep the attack up and try to hit someone else within reach). Looking over these feats, I'd say there's far more bad than good, and I'd probably never recommend these to my players.

Chapter 7: Gear and equipment. All of it seems ok, damage is where you would expect and nothing seems to be too over powered in terms of utility. However armor adds "robes" as a type of armor, and there are some heavier armors (AC 22 "Stronghold" plate). I have to say if this was an all or nothing situation, my players wouldn't be allowed to use any of it. But if they were interested in a single weapon or armor, I'd read over it and go on a case by case basis.

Chapter 8: Traps. A large selection of traps you can mostly drop into any dungeon. This is great.

Chapter 9: Optional rules. Some new conditions, a wide derth of new rules (most of them things that seem fine, like "Critical hits just deal maximum damage", a rule I loved in 4e). Critical on initative is particularly great (advantage on rolls for the first turn, or disadvantage if you roll a 1). Some rules I wouldn't use at all (the old 2e rule of coins grant experience, not combat).

Chapter 10: How to become a lich. It's great, although my table hasn't ever wanted this, the rules here work really really well.

Chapter 11 and 12: New magic items and new spells, I haven't investigated each and every one, but I love the randomized tables for items. Adds new depth to cursed items.

Overall the product is a net positive. There is a huge amount of stuff (and at 129 pages, it should be) but as a DM be wary that not everything here is balanced. As a player, the archetypes range from super exciting to mediocre, but there's nothing that's outright BAD. The feats section could be torn out, but that is a reaction to it analytically. If the feats are fun and don't ruin the fun of others, then they might work at your table.

My only two comments to the author: hire an editor. There were numerous spelling and grammar errors, as well as errors in layout. Also, source some better art. The geometric shapes get boring after a while.

Archetype Review

Barbarian: Path of the Seige weapon, mechanically is fine. The archetype doesn't really make you into a siege weapon except for the 10th level power. Everything else just makes you more of a fighter. The path of the survivor was a much better thought out archetype.

Bard: Path of Destiny is excellent, a fortune telling divining bard. Path of Origami is far more interesting from a story telling perspective, although it's difficult to say if the balance here would be great. My mind is arguing back and forth on if it's too good or too weak.

Cleric: The ooze domain is gross, and is mechanically awkward. Especially the "you can split into two copies of yourself" part, which is also probably the coolest part of the class. Protection is a little more by the book, but it is certainly something that looks like WOTC themselves could have drafted it up.

Druid: Circle of the Scorched Earth is great both narratively and mechanically. Circle of the Sun seems fun, but it really is more about being a plant-person than it is being solar powered. Bad name, great archetype.

Fighter: The guardian archetype is fine. It's like, the defender without needing shields. Feels like too minimal a change for me to really like it, but there's nothing wrong with it. The Warlord is trying to be a battlefield tactician, and for the most part succeeds. I would've liked to see it grant temporary hp earlier, but that's a personal design thought and the mechanics here seem quite balanced.

Monk: Way of the Fundementals is underwhealming. Feels like they glued things to the monk to say it was different, but there's nothing about this narratively that I like. The Third Eye archetype is much more dynamic, mystic type of monk.

Paladin: Oath of the Arcane is something I see designed a lot (Mystra and her Paladins, right?) It's not the best interpretation I've seen, but this is a pretty balanced one. Oath of Engagements is much more of a "Tank" than the traditional Paladin and there's nothing wrong with that.

Ranger: Diabolist is something that immediately drew my attention. An odd name, but it's essentially an undead hunter, with defences specifically tailored to fight those evil foes. Sylvan Knight on the other hand is... muddled. There's little cohesive about it, it's mostly a mess. A balanced mess, but a mess the same.

Rogue: Bounty hunter is great, and does what it says on the tin. While cardthrower will let you live out your fantasies of being Gambit from X-Men, it seems to be of limited use for the most part.

Sorcerer: So I've seen many blood mages stated out as 20 level classes and I've always hated that. The blood mage presented here is PRECISELY what I want in a blood mage, and possibly the best take on the concept I've seen to date. Time magic is always a difficult one to balance, which is why the author here decided to make the archetype just increase how quickly the sorcerer does everything. That works perfectly for me, as I don't want to deal with causality loops at my table.

Warlock: Fathom patron is pretty solid, although as a DM I question why a Kraken or other aquatic horror would create warlocks in the first place. Jotunmagisk doesn't make any sense to me, why or how a giant would be a patron, but the mechanics of the class work well. The invocations here are all excellent (without being so good they're must haves), and there are more than a few for patrons not in this book (a plus, in my opinion).

Wizard: Chaos magic makes me wonder why one wouldn't just make a wild mage, but options are nice. It's more... available... than the wild mage which isn't a bad thing.

While I like the concept, the author incentivizes being more descript in attacks by rewarding players with a mechanical advantage and while a d4 isn't gamebreaking, it shows the author lacks the fundemental understanding of the bounded accuracy concept making this an unbalanced mess.

HOWEVER you should ask yourself this: is it fun? By all means, this seems like (for your players) it would be VERY fun. If you want combat to run a little faster, and grant players an edge, then this will quite likely spice up your table in a really good way. My rating represents the use of this product at ALL tables, but it's up to the DM to determine if it would be good for THEIR table.

Most of these stats could have been grouped together, such as all sauropods (the long necked ones) given a single stat block with modifications, rather than separate entities. That being said, a solid number of dinosaurs, both common and esoteric.

Before I review this product I want to preface this with a warning: I find that people who make full 20 level classes tend to forget that the design of 5e is modular, but that the rules are there for a reason. Sometimes, a great idea isn't thought out properly and 99% of "full class" products could have been a MUCH better archetype on one of the existing classes. This is one of the few times I think a class was a great idea.

What is "The Scholar"? It's a new class that is based on intelligence but isn't a wizard. You're going to use your wits (represented by intellect dice) to try for success, or to aid your allies in their successes. In addition, you'll have gambits, which are smaller powers that will differentiate you from other scholars. The class has six archetypes (called Pursuits), each granting you unique uses of your gambits.

The explorer is flexible granting you additional proficiencies, and powers that can be shifted into different configurations. The inventior focuses on making mechanical allies, and keeping them running. It's a mixture of artificer and scientist and that appeals to me. The philosopher is a defender against mental attacks, using logic and insight to fight their battles. The Physician is a healer, but one who does not rely on magic to do their job. This is an oft overlooked 'hole' in 5e. Planar Sage is a '1/3rd caster', dabbling in the arcane arts to augment your scientific mind. The Tactician is a duelist scholar, focusing on a variety of fighting forms.

While each of these seems quite balanced, I will denote that each archetype is proficient in a different saving throw, which really goes against 5e design. This isn't a deal breaker, but something you should know if you're thinking of getting this supplement.

Practica are to a scholar what invocations are to a warlock, allowing even more customization from your character. It's around this point I want to establish that as a class, the scholar has as much depth and complexity as a warlock, so if you love/hate the warlock those feelings will likely transfer to the scholar. I haven't yet had a player try to be a scholar, but the author has denoted hundreds of hours of play and so I have faith that this class is both balanced and playable.

Light on crunch, heavy on lore, this suppelement is great for anyone who isn't familiar with Tempus. I am, but I still felt the supplement was quite worth it.

Separating the traits you gain when making a character into cultural and racial traits, this supplement will allow your Dwarf raised by Goliaths, or Halfling raised by Elves to be different from others of their kind. This adds an excellent amount of complexity but I cannot say that it's balanced. First, your entire table will need to use this, to ensure that no character is better or worse than the rest. The four star rating is due to the layout being difficult to view, the clarity of intent not being carried across all the time, and just the supplement not feeling very 5e.

Randomly generating dungeons has never been difficult, but with the right product that process becomes way faster and easier. This product will do exactly that for you: speed up the random generation of dungeons. However, random dungeons are rarely interesting and if you go in expecting this product to make your dungeon interesting, it will not.

A solid adventure, pairs well with the Tyranny of Dragons, Princes of the Apocalypse, or Storm King's Thunder story lines. I would use this as a side-quest for any low level characters in those storylines.

Not much I can add to what has already been said, but there aren't many supplements here on the guild you're going to find that are pay what you want and have this much content.

A selection of balanced archetypes in terms of mechanics, although some will be of greater interest than others.

Some of these open up cans of worms you might not want in your campaign (like chronomancy).

A fantastic selection of story driven weapons that have deep histories to uncover. Even if you don't like them mechanically, there's no doubt that the storys will inspire.

If you have change burning a hole in your pocket, this is a great way to save your pants!

The creatures here don't really fit with the 5e design ethic. That's not a problem in itself, but the creatures stand out in a weird way.

That being said, if you need lovecraftian creations, these will do nicely.

On a side note, fighting lovecraftian creatures doesn't really fit with the Lovecraft ethos either. Otherworldly monsters that we have difficulty even considering.

If you're looking to give your players the creeps, or evoke a weird fiction mood, confronting these monsters will break that.

If you've never run a Hexcrawling adventure before, this is THE supplement you'll want with you.

If you HAVE run a Hexcrawling adventure before, you'll find a derth of information here to either get you started in a new hexcrawling game or to help you keep all the plates spinning in your current one.